Connecting a microphone, music player or other audio device to your computer

You can connect a microphone, portable music player, or other audio device to your computer by using one of the jacks on the front, back, or side of your computer. These jacks directly connect to your computer's sound card or sound processor.

Most desktop computers have at least one line-in jack to connect a music player or other audio device and one line-out jack to connect speakers. These jacks typically appear on the back of a desktop computer. Many desktop computers also have a microphone jack, which is often on the front of the computer.

Most laptops don't have line-in or line-out jacks, but usually have microphone and headphone jacks located on the front or side of the laptop.

Microphone, line-in, and line-out jacks on a typical desktop computer

If you don't hear any sounds coming from an audio device you've plugged in to one of the jacks on your computer, check to make sure the jack is not muted. To do so, follow the instructions below.

If your laptop has a line-in jack, follow the instructions above for connecting a music player to a desktop computer. But to connect a music player or other audio device to most laptops, you'll have to plug it into a microphone jack. To do so, follow these steps:

Open Sound by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type sound, and then click Sound.

Click the Recording tab, click Microphone, and then click Properties.

Click the Listen tab, click the Listen to this device check box, and then click Apply.

Click the Levels tab and make sure the Mute
button looks like this . If the button looks like this , click it to turn on sound for this connection, and then click Apply.

Play some music or other sounds on your device to test the volume coming through your computer speakers. Select the slider under Microphone, drag it right or left to increase or decrease the volume of your audio device, and then click OK. You might also want to adjust the volume on your device.

Note

If you hear noise coming out of your speakers, try reducing the volume on both the music player and in the Levels tab. The microphone jack is designed to receive sound from a microphone, which is different than sound coming from a music player.

After you've plugged a microphone into a microphone jack on your computer and turned it on (if the microphone has an on button), follow these steps.

Open Sound by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type sound, and then click Sound.

Click the Recording tab, click Microphone, and then click Properties.

Click the Levels tab and make sure the Mute
button looks like this . If the button looks like this , click it to turn on sound for this connection, and then click Apply.

(Optional) To listen to microphone sounds through your speakers or headphones, click the Listen tab, click the Listen to this device check box, and then click OK.

Note

You can change the line-in volume on the Levels tab. Select the slider under Line In, drag it right or left to increase or decrease the volume of your audio device, and then click OK. Try this if you don't hear any sound coming from your microphone.

Microphone Properties dialog box showing sound turned on

Note

You can also plug most portable music players into a universal serial bus (USB) port on your computer instead of directly into your computer's sound card. If you do this instead of plugging the device into a jack, Windows will try to identify the device and install a driver for it. This allows you to use a music program or other software to sync music to the device. For more information, see Sync music, pictures, contacts, and calendars with a mobile device.

You can use the line-in connection on your sound card to connect a portable music player, microphone, or other audio input device to your computer.

Most sound cards have at least one line-out port to connect speakers and a line-in port where you can connect an audio input device.

However, the line-in connection to your sound card is muted by default. This means that if you plug an audio device into this port, it will not produce any sound on your computer until you enable sound for the line-in connection.

To enable sound for the line-in connection

Open Audio Devices and Sound Themes by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Hardware and Sound, and then clicking Sound.

Click the Playback tab, click Speakers, and then click Properties.

Click the Levels tab, and then, under Line In, click the Mute
button to enable sound for the line-in connection.